North of the Stupid Line

I can’t work it out. The world seems to be on the precipice of a huge catastrophe with global warming, with glaciers around the world melting, such as here and here. It seems that humans are to blame for this – so what’s new? But exactly how and why are humans getting the blame? What are the exact effects? And more importantly perhaps, what are we doing about it?

What is global warming?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up in 1988 to assess information on climate change and its impact. It’s Fourth Assessment Report is scheduled for release soon, but past assessments have predicted that global temperatures will rise by the end of the 21st century of between 1.4C and 5.8C. This will cause glaciers at the North and South Pole to melt, thereby raising sea levels. After all, the melted water has to go somewhere.

Why are us humans getting the blame?

Global warming is attributed to CO2 emissions, which is mainly caused by pollution from vehicles on the road. The Guardian devised this little chart in 1996 showing examples of countries where the most CO2 emissions come from.

Imagine the millions of cars being used ever day, all sputtering out CO2 emissions, not to mention lorries, vans, motorbikes, and even aircraft. A more detailed chart with all the main culprits can be found here. CO2 emissions are also caused by the burning of fossil fuels, land clearing and agriculture.

All these things are carried out or used by humans. No wonder we’re getting the blame.

What are the likely effects?

If the world does get warmer, then countries throughout the world will suffer from a knock-on effect with precipitation and sea level rises. In effect, some parts of the world will be submerged in water. For example, the small island of Tuvalu in the Pacific is already experiencing severe flooding, damaging homes and affecting drinking water. The rising sea levels could even submerge some of the coastal towns in the UK.

Not only that, rising sea levels are likely to have a devastating effect on many species of life on Earth. Marine life immediately springs to mind, particularly those that survive in colder waters, and the coral reefs.

The world will also see more extreme weather, and this is something that’s already happening. See here and here.

What is the world doing about it?

Not enough. This is probably the latest development, whereby leading world politicians and industrialists have reached a new, non-binding agreement to set up a global market to cap and trade CO2 emissions and that a limit should be set for maximum acceptable CO2 levels in the atmosphere. These talks were informal, and do not represent official government policy.

I think this sums up the current situation – NOT ENOUGH IS BEING DONE. World leaders are either ignorant or choosing to ignore the issue. The reasons that spring to mind for this apparent lack of action are probably:

1. Oh, there’s plenty of time to sort out the problems.
2. Ah, don’t worry, the situation isn’t that serious; these scientists are just being paranoid.
3. No way, saving the world will cost too much money.

Or perhaps they’re just too stupid or at a loss to do anything about it?

What can we do about it, as individuals?

• Recycle, recycle, recycle.
• Use public transport.
• Change all your light bulbs to more environmentally-friendly kinds (did you know that all light bulbs, big or small, emit CO2?).
• If you have to use cars, buy cars with low CO2 emissions (you will even get tax breaks for doing so).
• Lobby governments to do something about it. After all, they’re the ones with the money and the power to save the world.

It certainly seems to be a sorry state of affairs. What are you going to do about it?